


Dive(rgent)

by aestivates



Category: Free!
Genre: College, Fluff, Future Fic, Holidays, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 06:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestivates/pseuds/aestivates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sight Rin wishes he could see a little more clearly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dive(rgent)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tawnyPort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tawnyPort/gifts).



> (This story was written and published before the airing of Eternal Summer; as a result, some facts and implications may differ from canon.)
> 
> Prompt: "Something--age, genetics, too much squinting in big college lecture halls--makes Rin's vision deteriorate until he needs glasses. He's embarrassed about it but Rei either notices or Rin eventually is forced to ask for guidance on glasses shopping, care, etc."
> 
> Rin/Rei wasn't originally in my offers, but once I saw this in your requests I couldn't resist. I'm very sorry for several reasons, but mostly for the pure, undiluted cotton candy fluff.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, Porto! Happy holidays! ♥

*

The girl in front of him was holding out a loose stack of familiar papers.

"Good morning, Matsuoka-kun. Here are your notes back. Thank you."

Rin accepted them with a nod and a muttered, "No problem," quickly checking that they were in order.

"Ah... I should tell you something, though," the girl added before he had a chance to place them back in his binder.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not so sure they're correct," she began, and she leaned over to point at the first page of the notes. "See, you put down that the gravitational field strength of point-x is equal to 'the charge of pivotal energy per unit distance' but I checked the textbook and it's supposed to be 'the change of potential energy' there. And later," (she flipped to the second page) "you wrote three-eighty instead of three-fifty and... um, a lot of the other numbers here are wrong, actually. But all the work is right so I'm not sure why your answers are different."

"All of these are examples from the board," muttered Rin, eyes quickly scanning over the numbers she'd pointed out. It was highly unlikely for their physics professor to be so sloppy about basic formulas—the man was a perfectionist and a genius.

"Maybe Fujima-sensei wrote them down wrong, then," the girl suggested, though she sounded doubtful herself, before she thanked him and left.

*

"Matsuoka, these are definitely not the answers I gave you," Fujima was saying, a few hours later when Rin managed to catch him as he was heading out to lunch.

"But I copied them down exactly," he said, and he knew this because he'd actually wondered about the accuracy of the answers to begin with.

"You sit in the back, right?" Fujima asked, handing the notes back and hefting his bag up from his desk. "Maybe it's time for an eye exam."

"I don't need glasses!" Rin argued, probably a little louder than necessary. "I've always been able to see perfectly."

"Sure, but your vision can deteriorate faster than you'd think, especially at your age and with all the computer screens you kids spend hours staring at these days. Maybe you should be taking biology." Fujima grinned at him as he headed for the door.

Rin's frown was more pronounced than ever as he stuffed his notes back in his backpack angrily, then instantly regretted it and pulled them out again to sort them properly.

"My eyes are _fine_ ," he mumbled to himself and scowled the whole way back to his dormitory.

*

Makoto was the type of person who never left home without his phone and only turned it off while he was either in class or seeing a movie. Rin was pretty sure Makoto was on holiday break already, and there was certainly no movie theatre in Iwatobi, but it went straight to voicemail anyway.

_"Hello! This is Makoto. Sorry I'm not here right now, please leave a message and I'll get back to you! Thank you!"_

"Makoto, call me back," said Rin shortly, and he hung up. His next target was even less likely to answer his phone, but if he wanted to reach Makoto it was his best option.

"Hello... Rin?" asked Haru after the sixth or seventh ring, sounding surprised.

"Why are you so surprised I'm calling," said Rin, a little offended. "I should be the surprised one."

"You always just leave messages."

"Because you never answer!"

"You always call when I'm busy."

"Busy? Busy with _what_?"

There was a short silence, as if he actually had to think about this. "Cooking or swimming."

"You can't answer your phone while you're cooking?"

"Of course not." Haru was clearly affronted, and that was when Rin knew this discussion had to end before it escalated into a furious battle of quick-witted but completely irrelevant jabs.

"Fine, whatever. Anyway, is Makoto with you?"

"Makoto's on vacation with his family in Kyoto. He won't be back until January."

Well, that explained a lot, even if it was extremely inconvenient for Rin. He didn't want to wait until January, so it looked like Makoto would have to be a last resort.

"Figures. Anyway, I'm coming down to visit next weekend. Let's catch up then. Maybe we can race at Samezuka."

"Sure," said Haru, sounding pleased about the idea. As much as he valued solitude, Rin imagined he was feeling lonely—Makoto was on vacation, Nagisa and Rei were both attending college in the city, and his parents were overseas for work for a few months. And, okay, Rin wasn't delusional; the indoor pool was probably most of the appeal. Haru was Haru, after all.

"Okay, cool. Talk to you later."

They said their farewells and hung up, and Rin stared down at his contact list in mounting dread, before scrolling down.

The sheer contrast between Haru's greeting and Nagisa's greeting was _jarring_.

"Rin-chan! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Were you kidnapped?!"

Nagisa had picked up halfway through the first ring and Rin was so taken aback by the barrage of questions that he took a moment to respond. Apparently he never called Nagisa, if this sort of reaction was anything to go by.

"There's nothing wrong, calm down!"

For someone who had immediately assumed Rin was in trouble, Nagisa sure sounded cheerful. "Oh, good! So what's up?"

Rin hesitated. "I was just wondering, do you know anything about glasses?"

"Glasses?" Nagisa's confusion was evident. "I don't wear glasses."

"I know that! But you're always with Rei, so don't you—"

"Oh, you want to talk to Rei-chan? He's right here, hold on!"

" _No_ , I don't want to—" Rin attempted to interject, but it was too late, and a second later the phone had passed hands.

"Hello?" asked Rei slowly (apparently the third person to be unnecessarily surprised at Rin's call and it was causing him to seriously re-evaluate his social skills), and thanks to Nagisa of _course_ , Rin had no choice but to play with the cards he'd been dealt.

"Rei. You wear glasses, right?" asked Rin, and he immediately wanted to bang his head against the wall because _why was he even asking_.

A pause. "Yes. They help me see." 

A mindnumbingly stupid answer to a mindnumbingly stupid question. Rin wasn't sure if Rei was mocking him or not—the Rei he knew certainly wouldn't dare, but he'd also spent an inordinate time alone with Nagisa in the past year and that tended to... change people.

"So you know a lot about them."

"I was born with poor vision, so I have been wearing glasses my entire life. I suppose you could say that I am sufficiently informed, yes."

Rin's dread had reached critical mass, but there was nothing for it now. With Makoto away, Rei was the only one he knew with experience in shopping for glasses.

"Well, it turns out I need glasses too, so. Will you help me look for some?" he asked, regretting the question as soon as it was out. 

What was he doing? Why did he even need help? He could totally look up a list of glasses stores and go by himself and just try on a bunch until something felt right, just like shopping for the right pair of swim goggles. The hardest part would be finding frames that didn't look totally stupid on him, but that would be trial and error. Actually, maybe he could get contacts and nobody would even realize he had poor eyesight. He had no idea how contacts worked, but there was probably something on the Internet about it. It couldn't be _that_ difficult. But—then again—if it wasn't, why didn't Rei wear contacts? Surely they were much more convenient, and Nagisa couldn't prank him nearly as easily. And what about swimming? Why did Rei have prescription goggles when he could just wear contacts under his normal goggles? Was he missing something here?

Dammit. He _did_ need help.

"—so I can meet you this Sunday at noon, if you are available then?"

Shoot, he'd spaced out and missed half of what Rei's response had been.

"What? Yeah, that's fine."

"Alright," said Rei. He was awfully agreeable. Maybe Rin had misjudged how awkward this was going to be. "I will see you then. Take care, Rin-san."

*

It was a chilly day, enough to warrant a few layers under his usual winter getup. The second they'd headed inside the the first shop, Rei's glasses had fogged up from the condensation and he'd needed to clean them. It looked incredibly inconvenient, and it was not lost on Rin that he would soon be dealing with the same issue himself.

"Why don't you wear contacts?" he asked, while Rei meticulously inspected his lenses for any stray spots.

"I've never had any problem with wearing glasses," said Rei simply, tucking his lens-cleaning cloth away, and Rin could almost read the unsaid _except around Nagisa_ on his face. He didn't offer up any additional counsel—he might have been a glasses expert, but it clearly ended there.

A silence fell between them. The only sales associate in the shop was on the phone, and she waved at them, appearing apologetic.

"So," began Rin, wandering over to the wall of men's frames.

"Yes," said Rei, following dutifully behind. "Ah, do you have your prescription with you?"

Rin dug in his pockets for the folded-up slip of paper and held it out. Rei looked it over and nodded, probably more to himself than anything, before handing it back. 

"This is a surprisingly strong prescription for someone only beginning to need glasses. How long have you been suffering with poor vision?"

"I haven't been _suffering_ ," Rin scoffed, shoulders tensing automatically. "It's barely noticeable." Rei was clearly unconvinced, but not in a pitying way, so Rin relaxed and sighed. "I can't see the board clearly in class. It's been like that for a while, I guess. I never noticed before school started because it's not like I'm so blind I can't swim."

"Of course, we will need to shop for prescription goggles as well," said Rei, pushing his own glasses up. "We can stop by Sports Zero after we're done. There should be one located within walking distance from here. I purchased a new suit from there not too long ago."

"So you and Nagisa are still swimming?" Rin asked, plucking a pair of white rectangular frames off the wall and trying them on in the mirror. Wow, okay, white was a definite no. He put them back before Rei had a chance to see them.

"Occasionally," said Rei. "Both of our programs involve heavy coursework, so I'm afraid there isn't much time for extracurricular activities." He furrowed his brow, nose scrunching. "Of course, Nagisa-kun is always attempting to get me to do his mathematics homework for him, as he stubbornly insists it would save time and allow us to spend more of it at the pool, but he absolutely fails to realize why the subject is mandatory in his particular choice of career path and I worry that his strong ambitions have clouded his ability to recognize his own—"

Rin was pretty sure he was hearing more words out of Rei than he'd heard in the last year combined, and he couldn't deny being a little fascinated. A second later, Rei seemed to realize that himself and stopped mid-sentence to clear his throat.

"—but that's not important. Have you found a pair of glasses you like yet?"

"No," said Rin, forgetting what he was supposed to be doing for a moment. He picked up a sensible-looking pair of black frames. "But keep talking. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't care. We're... friends, right?"

Rei looked startled, and Rin didn't blame him—he almost regretted making such a sudden bold statement, but it was true, wasn't it? They had known each other for several years now, and had shared countless important moments together, both in and out of swimming. Rin's best friends were Rei's best friends, and any excuse keeping them from treating each other with the same level of camaraderie now that they were older was a flimsy excuse at best. Certainly, Rin didn't have any problem with Rei, but... admittedly, he'd always had difficulty shaking the feeling that Rei had a problem with him. An unfortunate relic from the first time they'd met and clashed, he suspected.

But only a moment after Rin's question, the corners of Rei's mouth lifted into a small smile, and Rin was relieved.

"Right. So, of course I hesitate to say anything about it, because Nagisa-kun's faith in my abilities or lack thereof has been invaluable, and now that we are older and our focus is on academics rather than swimming, I feel it is now my responsibility to—Rin-san, why don't you try these purple ones?—sorry, where was I..."

*

Three hours later found the two in Sports Zero. Rin had tried on virtually every frame in the glasses shop—reluctantly, even a couple of women's ones at the sales associate's meek suggestion—and finally, had picked the least offensive choice out of sheer frustration. The lenses were made-to-order, so he was to come back before the end of the holidays to pick them up. Rin wasn't too fussed; he'd at least have them in time for class to start up again.

Now, he was finally back in his comfort zone. He knew goggles. He could do goggles. He would be sad to say goodbye to his current pair, but—

"Your prescription isn't here," observed Rei, peering at the empty space on the shelf. "It appears they're sold out."

"Of _course_ they are," grumbled Rin, mood immediately souring again. He hadn't exactly been the best of company since they'd left the shop. Rei's patience was extraordinary. "Wait here, I'll go ask."

It didn't take him long to find an employee. It also didn't take long for the employee to inform him that the last pair of goggles in his prescription had been sold earlier that morning.

"I'll just get the next one up," said Rin as he returned, grabbing the box off the shelf and reading the description on the back—or trying to, before it was taken out of his hands by Rei.

"Absolutely not. You'll strain your eyes if you try to see through anything that isn't your prescribed strength."

"It can't be that bad," Rin argued, grabbing it back. "I'll just see better than usual."

"That's not how it works!" Rei huffed, taking the goggles once more. "You invited me to advise you, and I am advising you. You are far better off waiting until the correct ones are in stock."

Rin couldn't come up with a reasonable counterpoint, and crossed his arms. "Fine."

"Why are you so eager to purchase new goggles to begin with?" asked Rei, as he set the box back on the shelf in perfect alignment with the others. "You said yourself that it hasn't affected your ability to swim."

"I'm going back home for the holidays," said Rin. "I can't think of a stupider reason to lose to Haru than realizing I can't see where I'm—what?" Rei was smiling again, and this time Rin didn't know why. He shot him a look. "What's so funny?"

"Ah," said Rei, dropping the grin as a faint blush rose to his cheeks instead. "I'm just glad that you and Haruka-senpai—Haruka-san," he corrected himself, "are still racing. It reminds me of our high school days."

Rin's suspicion eased. "Oh. Yeah, we always try to get at least one race in when we see each other. It's nothing like the old days, since Haru doesn't really have a reason to swim competitively anymore, but it's always fun." He shrugged, belatedly realizing that there was a fond, nostalgic smile on his face as well. He cleared his throat and glanced away. "It's too bad Makoto's on vacation, or else the five of us might have been able to swim together again over the holidays."

"Yes, that would have been nice," agreed Rei, his own smile returning to match Rin's.

It only took Rin a few seconds to realize they were both smiling like total losers at each other in the middle of the swimwear aisle in Sports Zero and he wasn't exactly positive how they'd gotten to that point.

"Anyway," said Rin, in probably a deeper voice than absolutely necessary, and he turned to make his way towards the exit. "Looks like that's all the shopping we can do today."

"Please keep me updated as to when your glasses arrive," said Rei as he walked alongside him, "and I will be sure to coach you through their proper care."

"Yeah, I'll need it," said Rin, with a grimace. Glasses were a _lot_ more expensive than he'd realized and he'd had to spend most of his holiday money on them; the last thing he wanted to do was end up ruining them. 

They'd reached the sidewalk. The train station was in one direction, and Nagisa and Rei's college campus was in the other.

"I suppose I should be heading back now," said Rei, bowing his head. "Have a good holiday, Rin-san."

"Thank you for all your help, Rei. I appreciate it." Something else occurred to Rin, and he quickly added before Rei could go, "Hey, wait."

Rei paused. "Yes?"

"Maybe when I'm back from Iwatobi we could try to hang out on the weekends," he said, and it wasn't that he was avoiding direct eye contact, but the street lamp was very interesting. "It's not that long of a train ride anyway, and I scared Nagisa half to death when I called so obviously I don't see you two enough."

Rei's smile this time wasn't like the others—it was more open and unguarded, like what Rin had said had genuinely made him happy. It brought a strange warmth to Rin's chest.

"I would like that very much," Rei said finally, and he hastily added, "and I'm sure Nagisa-kun would, too! He always talks about how much he misses you, and Haruka-san and Makoto-san too."

"Yeah. Speaking of, you'd better hurry and get back before all of his math homework mysteriously goes missing," said Rin with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah!" It seemed that thought hadn't occurred to Rei; the horrified expression that immediately took over his face was priceless, and he hurriedly turned tail and waved over his shoulder. "Have a safe trip home!"

Rin found himself smiling to himself the whole way to the station and a little on the train, until the old lady sitting across from him gave him a knowing look and he dropped it with a huff.

*

It was Christmas Day, and Rin only knew that because his little sister had busted in through the door and yanked his curtains open, flooding his bedroom in blinding light.

" _Gou_ ," he growled, turning away from the window.

Gou completely ignored his warning and dropped cross-legged to the floor, holding something out. Rin opened his eyes just enough to squint at it; it was a small box, covered in shiny red giftwrap and topped with a purple bow.

"I know we're waiting until tonight to open gifts, but this was on the doorstep! It's addressed to you, and there's no sender, isn't that strange? Maybe you have a secret admirer." 

The thought was actually ridiculous enough to wake him up, so he finally sat up with a huge yawn as he took the present.

"Open it!" Gou insisted.

"Give me a minute," he grumbled, but he set the box in his lap anyway and started pulling off the ribbon.

"I don't know how you can stand that, it takes so long," Gou huffed impatiently, eyeing him critically as he found the taped edges and unpeeled them carefully.

"I don't know how _you_ can stand having garbage all over the—" Rin stopped short, eyes wide as he pulled away the last of the giftwrap.

It was a pair of goggles in his exact prescription. It was obvious who had sent it, and Rin found an odd warmth crawling up his neck. Rei had clearly gone out of his way to get these for him, but why?

"Hm? Why are they prescription?" asked Gou, leaning over and peering at the box.

"Don't be so nosy," muttered Rin, but he was distracted when he saw there was a note taped to the underside of the box. He hesitated and side-eyed Gou, who immediately picked up on the cue.

"Okay, okay, I'll go!" she said, getting up. Rin swore she'd been much shorter not that long ago. "Don't let me stand in the way between my big brother and his secret admirers."

"Wait, Gou," Rin said with a sigh, and he held out his arms. Her whole face seemed to light up as she dived forward to hug him, and he couldn't help but grin and pat her head. "I'll come downstairs soon."

Gou nodded, still smiling brightly, and almost skipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Rin waited for her footsteps to fade before peeling the note off the box. He had no idea why he'd gotten Gou to leave; it wasn't as though he was embarrassed or anything. This was Rei he was dealing with, so it was probably nothing more than a very politely-worded holiday greeting. 

He opened the note.

*

"G'morning... Rin-chan?" Nagisa was still in his pyjamas, and he stared at Rin with wide eyes as if disbelieving he was really there. Admittedly, it was a lot better than immediately assuming Rin needed help burying a dead body or something of the like. "Huh? Are you wearing glasses?"

"Morning, Nagisa," said Rin, ignoring the question because the answer was obvious. "Is Rei awake?"

It was incredible how quickly Nagisa's expression changed from barely-awake to five-cups-of-coffee. "Oh! Yeah! I'll get him!"

He shut the door in Rin's face, and he thought he could hear muffled arguing, but a moment later it opened again to Rei's flustered face.

"Good morning, Rin-san." Rei seemed to have difficulty making eye contact. Rin was in much the same state. "Ah, I see you're wearing your glasses."

"Hey. Yeah, I just picked them up today," said Rin, running a hand through his hair as if that would settle his nerves at all, which it didn't at all. "So if you have time today, I'd appreciate your advice on how to take care of them—"

"Yes," sighed Rei, in audible relief, "of course. I actually—"

"—or if you're free right now, maybe we could—"

"—have a pamphlet I can lend you—"

"—talk about it over breakfast? On me."

"—in fact, you can keep it, it's not as though I—" Rei blinked. "What?"

"Will you go out for breakfast with me?" repeated Rin quickly.

Rei finally met Rin's eyes with his own, and the bright red flush on his cheeks would have been almost comical if Rin wasn't too busy feeling like he wanted to fall through the floor.

"I would be honoured to go for breakfast with you," Rei said quietly, finally, exhaling a deep breath he'd evidently been holding. "Please allow me a few moments to get dressed."

Rin nodded, and the downright giddy elation that bubbled up in his chest was so much that he almost didn't catch that Rei was mumbling one more thing—

"They look beautiful on you."

—before he disappeared behind the door, and Rin found that quite suddenly he didn't mind his new glasses at all.

*

_Dear Rin-san,_

_I hope you will receive this gift in time, before your race with Haruka-san._

_I wish you and your family all the best this holiday season._

_Merry Christmas!_

_Sincerely yours,  
Ryugazaki Rei_

_PS. I had a wonderful time last week. I hope we can meet again soon._

*

_fin._  



End file.
